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Posted on: 24 February, 2014

Council to look at building industry concerns about the TLPI

On Friday, Mayor Jenny Whitney said the Whitsunday Regional Council held a building industrymeeting in Bowen to discuss the Bowen Flooding and Storm Tide Regulation Temporary LocalPlanning Instrument (TLPI), which about 80 people attended.

“Council has implemented the TLPI in accordance with the Queensland Government’s reforms to its planning practices particularly in relation to planning for more resilient floodplains,” MayorWhitney said.

“It was great to see so many people in the building industry and community members turn out togain information on the TLPI.

“A number of points were raised by concerned parties which will be taken onboard and addressed by Council.

“At this weeks Council meeting a report is being put to Council recommending the establishment of an industry reference group to help inform Council on future planning policy.

“The industry reference group will be a significant step in Council adopting a more consultativeapproach to local town planning.

“Modifications to the existing TLPI and how it is applied will also be looked at by Council,particularly around reviewing the mapping used and the fees imposed, where practical.

“I believe Friday’s meeting was an important platform for the people of Bowen to provide feedback to Council on the TLPI, and in particular its long term response to flooding in Bowen.

“It should be recognised that while some members of the building industry were vocal in theiropposition to the TLPI, many concerned residents also quietly raised issues with Council aboutbeing worried for their own safety due to new developments causing worse flooding issues.

“The TLPI was adopted by Council to help keep the Bowen community safe in a flood event, bykeeping further development and people away from flood waters.

“While Friday’s meeting was an information session and attended predominantly by members ofthe building industry, the TLPI exists to keep the entire community safe.

“The TLPI, which was put in place in December for 12 months, places strict conditions on all types of development including houses, sheds, units and businesses within the mapped Natural Hazard Trigger Zone

“We are committed to the safety of people and property, and ensuring their protection fromunacceptable risks due to flooding and storm tide, the TLPI helps us achieve this goal.

“However, Council will take the building industry feedback from today’s meeting and makeamendments to the TLPI to streamline approvals where possible,” she said.

Below are the main points of the TLPI:

• It applies to land within Bowen susceptible to flooding from the Don River and storm tideinundation along the coastline.• It applies to all types of development, domestic and non-domestic within the mapped

Natural Hazard Trigger Zone

• Where development activity is proposed within the Natural Hazard Trigger Zone it will benecessary for a development application to be lodged and demonstrate that is complieswith the requirements of the relevant code contained within the TLPI• In order to demonstrate compliance it may be necessary to provide one or all of thefollowing with a Development Application:o A plan demonstrating that development is situated above the relevant Defined FloodLevel specified for the site (Note: Dwellings must be situated 300mm above DFL)o An engineering report certifying that development will not result in any change toflood characteristics of the site and adjacent properties

In some instances it will be necessary to consider alternative development outcomes such as:

• Raised ‘Queenslander’ style dwellings instead of slab on ground construction• Carports and partially enclosed sheds or structures to allow for the free flow of water in aflood event

Mayor Whitney said all the details of the TLPI are available on the Council website, along with aseries of factsheets and the Natural Hazard Trigger Zone maps.